Fleet Management

DEF Pump Price Up 15 Cents Since February

The average U.S. DEF pump price increased by 7 cents, to $2.88 per gallon, in June. The price has risen by 15 cents to $2.88 per gallon between February and June, 2012, in response to raw material costs.

"The latest price data shows that diesel exhaust fluid is strongly affected by volatile raw material costs," says Christopher Goodfellow, market analyst at Integer Research and publisher of DEF Tracker. "A sharp upward movement in the price of urea between February and May resulted in increasing DEF prices during [the first half of] 2012."

The price of urea staged a sharp reversal in June, and the cost of larger bulk deliveries (1,000-4,000 gallons) of DEF to fleets dropped across the references included in DEF Tracker in response. However, the effect on tote pricing was more diverse, with average prices moving by between -$0.01 and $0.03 per gallon in the U.S., and -$0.03 and $0.01 per gallon in Canada.

The number of truckstops offering bulk DEF at the pump is increasing rapidly, with 37 new locations coming online over the last four weeks, bringing the total to 539.